A unique fluffy bird in the wild West Highlands of Scotland

Tag: Jenny Chapman

Summer does not last long in the wild West Highlands of Scotland – if indeed it arrives at all – and as July gave way to August there was a distinct and melancholy change in the air, as though autumn were here already. Waves of heavy rain swept in across the Atlantic on strong, cool winds, and when the sun occasionally emerged, in between the showers, the world appeared in the muted, silvery colours typical of the equinox, instead of the strong hues of summer. However, Algy knew that in fact it was only early August, and as he watched the diamonds sparkling on the water and the wet sand, he hoped that there might still be a chance of some warm sunshine before the long Highland winter began in earnest…

Algy reclined on a sunny rock beneath his cliff-side nest and listened to the sounds of the sea, seething and swirling all around him. He could think of no better way to spend a bright summer’s afternoon, and he hoped that the tide would not rise too soon…

Algy sends you all lots of fluffy seaside hugs, and this picture postcard from his stay-at-home vacation on the wild west coast of Scotland. He hopes you are enjoying a happy and peaceful Sunday xoxo

It was summer holiday time in the wild West Highlands of Scotland, and while his assistants continued to work, Algy had been enjoying that most fashionable of all types of holiday – a “staycation”…

Of course, it is well known that those who take their holidays on the west coast of Scotland must expect uncertain weather, and this year had been no exception to that rule. But between the cold, grey, wet and misty days there had been some days of glorious sunshine, and on these Algy delighted in reclining on a rock in his own personal garden by the sea, watching the other holidaymakers making merry on the beach or messing about in boats…

If you are enjoying your summer holidays just now – whether at home or away – Algy hopes that you are having a wonderful time 🙂

The sun had been playing hard to get, and although it was July, most days continued to be cold, dark, dismal, and often very wet. But when the sun did deign to put in an appearance, the world was transformed… and Algy was delighted to see the diamonds return to the surface of the sea once more…

Algy wishes you all a very happy week ahead, sparkling with free diamonds 🙂

And the next day… the sun came out! Algy was so astonished that at first he didn’t know what to do. The mist had returned to wherever it came from, at least for the moment, and the landscape was entirely transformed: all the fuzzy greyness had vanished, and the world was crisp and sharp, and full of light and colour again. As he flew over his assistants’ garden, Algy noticed something especially colourful, hiding among a tangle of very thorny stems… Like many of his feathered friends, Algy loves berries of all kinds, so before flying back to the sea, he settled down to enjoy a summery feast of juicy tayberries 🙂

[For those who may not know: tayberries are a hybrid of raspberries and blackberries, bred in Scotland, and well suited to our… climate here. They are large and juicy and very tasty, if you don’t require your fruit too sweet.]

As the glorious West Highland summer continued, Algy reclined on the dripping leaves of a garden hedge, wondering how long it would take for the tiny droplets of dense mist to soak right through his feathers. There was no point looking out to sea, as the sea had not been visible for quite some time. And there was no point watching the sky, as the sky had long since vanished. So Algy struck up a conversation with a song thrush who, despite the weather, had been yodelling vigorously in a tree nearby. The thrush was not a particularly well-read bird, so for his benefit Algy recited an appropriate poem, in the hope that the thrush would add it to his repertoire:

I am the mist, the impalpable mist,
Back of the thing you seek.
My arms are long,
Long as the reach of time and space.

Some toil and toil, believing,
Looking now and again on my face,
Catching a vital, olden glory.

But no one passes me,
I tangle and snare them all.
I am the cause of the Sphinx,
The voiceless, baffled, patient Sphinx.

I was at the first of things,
I will be at the last.
I am the primal mist
And no man passes me;
My long impalpable arms
Bar them all.

[Algy is reciting the poem The Mist by the 20th century American poet Carl Sandburg.]

It was the 1st July, and the West Highland summer continued in all its glory… There had scarcely been a single fine day since the middle of May, and as the temperature soared to a high of 14 degrees celsius (before wind chill), Algy clung on desperately to a tangle of honeysuckle in the driving Scotch mist, and wondered whether this “summer” would ever come to an end…

Algy sends you all lots of very damp fluffy hugs, and if you are one of his friends who suffer from excess heat in the summer months, he sends you an abundance of very cool, damp air xoxo